Reggie: Yo-Kai Watch Could Be A Strong Hardware Driver

The Yo-kai Watch franchise has taken Japan by storm. The cross media IP from Level-5 has been an astounding success with the video game and anime being wildly popular among the Japanese culture, even rivaling the juggernaut that is Pokemon.

Speaking to IGN, Nintendo America Reggie Fils-Aime, revealed Nintendo is hoping that Yo-kai Watch will turn to be a strong hardware driver for the younger demographics. Reggie revealed that Nintendo and Level-5 are working strategically to release the Yo-kai Watch Anime, Games and toys close to each other.

“Nintendo is quite involved. This is a game that literally sold millions in Japan, and it helped drive a lot of hardware especially with younger kids. So we view this as a very strategic title for us. The team at Level 5 is driving a lot of the localization. We’re playing a bit of a consultation role, but we’ve had a lot of deep conversations around the need for the anime to be out in the marketplace, and to establish the importance of key partnerships in the toy space.”

He continued to express an optimism for the franchise, even go far to say that the franchise will be a strong hardware driver for the younger demographics.

“We believe this game could be a very strong hardware driver for us, especially with younger consumers. We think the pairing of this game, especially with our 2DS business, can be quite strong. And we’re very excited about it coming this holiday.”

Yo-kai Watch is set to be released during the holidays for North America and in 2016 for Europe. So we will have to wait until then before we have a clear idea how well the franchise will perform.